Campus concealed handgun bill postponed

A bill to allow concealed handguns on campus was postponed Thursday after a couple of hours of debate.

State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, the bill’s author, asked to take the bill up on Monday after fellow senators expressed reservations about amendments and the timing of the debate.

Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, said Wentworth had broken a promise to hold the bill until Monday so that he could talk to his constituents about an amendment that would carve out an exemption for K-12 academies located on college campuses.

Sens. Royce West, D-Dallas, and Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said they think public universities ought to be able to choose whether they allow guns on campus, just like private schools will be able to under the bill. The different treatment creates a “double standard,” Ellis said.

Wentworth said he would rather not allow private universities to opt out of the bill, but he had to make compromises to get the bill moving.

Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said the relatively small number of concealed carry permit holders would do little to make campuses safer, and Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, expressed concern over an amendment regarding the storage of handguns in dormitories.